In this section you will use some of the great sites you have found throughout this book and in your Web explorations, utilize your new searching skills, create with your new Web page development skills, and produce a product that you are sure to use in your classroom.

     While you are viewing a Web page, you may click on Bookmark | Add Bookmark to add the site's URL (Uniform Resource Locator) to the Bookmark list in Netscape. The actual bookmark file may be located by double clicking on My Computer | Program Files | Netscape Users | <Your User Name> and look for the file - bookmark.htm.

     Once you find your bookmark file, you may right click on the file name (click and hold for Macintosh users) and rename it to oldbookmark.htm. After restarting your computer and opening Netscape, Netscape will look for its bookmark file, will not be able to find it, and will make a new empty bookmark file.

     Why would you want to do this? It gives you the opportunity to start a focused search for URLs to sites about a topic you are studying in class.

     Imagine a situation at school where the Dream Team, a group of seventh grade teachers who teach all subjects, is going to teach a week of classes based on the theme, Roller Coasters. The science teacher plans to present exciting experiments on Centrifugal Force. The math teacher prepares some simple force and motion equations relating to Roller Coasters for students to discover. Teachers want to find Web sites appropriate for each topic. In your classroom you rename your Netscape bookmark file, and begin to look for Web sites that are appropriate for your topic.

     After restarting Netscape and finding you have an empty bookmark file, you and your students search for Roller Coaster sites. You find sites showing facts, audio, and video of the oldest, the longest, and the highest Roller Coasters. In each case, you click on Bookmark | Add Bookmark to add the URL of the page you found to the Bookmark list. Soon you have a list of related sites in your bookmark file.

     Next you will use the following steps to save the bookmark file:

• Click on Bookmark | Edit Bookmarks to view the bookmark.htm file.
  
  
• Click on File | Export and save the bookmark file to a disk.

     You may make a copy and give it to your colleagues. You may go to the school library and Import the bookmarks into another computer's bookmark list. However, librarians do not like having bookmarks added to their bookmark lists so you can use a less invasive procedure to view the bookmark file, such as the following:

• To open the bookmark file as a Web page in the browser, click on File | Open Page | Choose File and find the bookmark.htm file on your disk. Click on Open | Open.
  
  
• The bookmark file opens in the browser as a Web page with working links.

     If at any time you click on File | Edit Page, this file can be manipulated in Netscape Composer to create a tailored Web list for a specific classroom topic. The file can be easily accessed later in class when the topics are discussed.

     Using the above method, you can also create your very own safe, electronic resource box of prescreened bookmark files for different subjects and place it near your classroom computer. These resource files can be used by your students as an activity center to enhance their learning.

     Don't forget that you can make copies of your bookmark files, containing all of your Web treasures, and share them with parents and other teachers!

     Think of a topic that you plan to teach in your classroom. Rename your bookmark file and do a focused search for related sites. Save your bookmark file to a disk and open it as a Web page in your browser - Netscape. Finally, Edit the page in Composer. Perhaps you will want to add some text directions or a graphic.

     Resources for Bookmark Manipulation: